The first Comarca Indigena (or official Indigenous territory)
in Panama was set up in 1938 in the San Blas archipelago by the Kuna
people. In the province of Darien, the
Embera and Waounan people joined
forces and created the Comarca Embera-Waounan in 1983. Historically, the Ngobe
have not been as effective in negotiating with the government as the Kuna. The
Ngobe recently reached agreement with the government on a separate reserve.
The Comarca Ngöbe Buglé was created in 1997.

In theory there are no legal barriers to political participation
for indigenous indians. However you will not find anything like their proportion
in government positions that their percentage of the population would justify.

Censuses showed Indians to be a declining proportion of the
total population. The figures were only a rough estimate of the numbers of Indians
in Panama. Precise numbers and even the exact status of several smaller tribes
were uncertain. Language is not by itself a fool-proof guide. Some indian groups
spoke only Spanish and yet kept other indigenous practices and were considered
Indians. The Ngobe adopted a wide
variety of words of Spanish origins but preserved indigenous practices. But
the Térraba, who have lost many of their cultures would not use foreign
words, even for non indigenous items.

The indigenous Indian tribes are concentrated in the more remote
regions of Panama, and it has been their isolation that has contributed to their
their cultural survival. The Ngobe who account for around 60% of all the indigenous
indians in Panama, inhabit the remote parts of northwest Panama. The Kuna are
mainly along the Caribbean coast east of Colón and account for around
30% of indigenous indians.

The smaller tribes are scattered in the remote mountains of
western Panama and the interior of Darién. The Embera
occupied the southeastern of Darién along the border with Colombia. Most
were bilingual in Spanish and Chocó.

The Bókatá live in eastern Bocas
del Toro along the Río Calovébora. The Bókatá
language is similar to Ngobe, but the two languages were not understandable
between the tribes. In the 1970s, there were virtually no roads through Bókatá
territory; and by the mid-1980s, there was a small dirt road passable only in
dry weather.

The Naso are another
small tribe and it lives near the Río Teribe. It was hit recurrent tuberculosis
epidemics between 1910 and 1930, but the population expanded rapidly with t
better medical care after the 1950s. By the late 1980s, the Naso had abandoned
most of their native crafts. They are said to have looted their ancestral burial
mounds for gold to sell. In the early 1970s a flood swept away most of the alluvial
soil they had farmed, and they had to seek work in the banana plantations. The
Ngobe attempted to include the Naso in their territory, but the Térraba
resisted this.